Point Reyes National Seashore

Chris had a rare day off on Friday, so we took a short trip out towards the coast to see the Point Reyes National Seashore and the surrounding area with the girls. There will be more pictures in the future because Chris took along the nice camera, but this initial post will give you a general overview of what we did and what we saw.

We set off early in the morning for our adventure and arrived in the later morning at our destination. We stopped briefly at a Visitor's Center near Bear Valley Road to make a pit stop with Kayla and feed Ava. Then we headed on to the lighthouse area.

As we drove we saw some fun sights. Here was our first glimpse of the ocean


And here are some of the cows we passed along the way. This area has tons of cows grazing on the many hillsides. My sister in law, Laura Dorothy, always talks about how happy the cows in California look (just like in the commercials) and they really do on these hillsides. These ones were a little uppity though; they didn't even give us the time of day...


When we got to the parking lot, we strapped Elise into the backpack carrier and Ava into the Bjorn. Kayla has to make the treks herself now. It was only a short distance to some more lovely views of the ocean.


We walked further and came to some interesting information on whales that pass through the area. Apparently we had just missed them, but Kayla was still pretty amazed at the whale bones they had on display.


We had several viewings of some nearby islands on the horizon at different points during the day. The Farallon Islands are located just 20 miles or so from peninsula on Drakes Bay. Look closely and you can see them out in the distance.


We looked at TONS of Murre birds though we were too far away to get any good pictures that could be seen with the naked eye. Here is what a common murre looks like


Then we headed down the flight of 300+ stairs to the Lighthouse. The sign said it was like climbing up and down the stairs of a 30 story building. Kayla made it up and back like a champ! The old iron lighthouse with it's prism light contraption is no longer used (due to harsh weather conditions and ground movement which make it a bit volatile), but there is a new light on a nearby building and it is still used to help guide ships. Here are some pictures from down near the lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper's quarters.



We hiked back up and saw this fun plant growing out of some rocks. Random things like this in nature always amaze me.


On the way back down Chris took a picture with myself and Ava (and Kayla) so that we had proof that we were actually there as well


Next we drove to Chimney Rock, parked and hiked along a short trail to see the elephant seals. Those bad boys (and girls and babies) are loud! Kayla was bummed that we couldn't go right down on the beach to see them. We watched for awhile from the viewpoint and saw some little babies nursing and a couple males had a little fight.


On a hill ridge near the parking lot we saw a herd of deer standing there watching us all


We headed on the Chimney Rock trail to see some more beautiful and natural sights. Kayla liked the flower board and looked for flowers all along the way. The large pink ones were her favorite, but I only got a picture of some purple ones



At Chimney Rock there were some more lovely ocean views and another view of the Farallon Islands


On the way to our last and final little hike of the day, we had to stop for cows crossing the road


Our last hike was around an Earthquake trail. The peninsula where Point Reyes is located runs right over the San Andreas fault and the trail explains some interesting earthquake information especially as it relates to that area. Each of the little information areas had a kid's corner too, which was nice for Kayla so she could get a tiny glimpse of what "earthquake" even meant. The picture below is one of her standing between 2 fences (look closely since the one on the right is in the shadows and rather hard to see). When the fault line moved during the San Francisco earthquake of '89 the fence moved about 16 feet apart in a matter of seconds. It was a pretty interesting visual.


We saw some gorgeous sights, contemplated the beauty of God's creations, and got some great exercise. Kayla, especially, was absolutely amazing. Her little legs just kept going and her spirits were always soaring and ready for the next adventure.